June 12, 2014

Die Another Way

I've been thinking about the different ways to die in a Bungie shooter or any video game, and I think that the most satisfying kills are those that uniquely humiliate the target. So far they have been the assasinations in Gears and in Halo. But there has always been something special about Halo's deadly purple needler explosions that are utterly unique in gaming. So I'm wondering.. If I had the skills of a Bungie progammer, what kind of super unique kills might I animate that haven't been seen in any other videogame?

Now interestingly, I have a set of ideas based in physics about how you destroy something. Sooner or later in life, you'll find an unopenable can or something stuck that you cannot open - and you think, how can it be with all the forces of physics that I can't get this open? So, yeah. I have a list that makes me think of extremes of temperature, air pressure, water pressure, torque, vibration, sound, sharpness, etc.

Liquifaction Being reduced to a crap stain on the ground, or a puddle of goo has got to be in the list. But we all just think of acid, and it's always green and hissy. Now what might just work here is an acid blob gun with a great animation. But what about an acid blob shotgun that shoots out two dozen baggies the size of gumballs? Each acid gumball sticks to you and then they all simultaneously pop and dissolve you in all those places.

Implosion How about a vacuum magazine for a sniper rifle? Instead of a bullet, it's a dart with a total vacuum. It hits your head, your head implodes like a stomped on soda can.

Filament Shredder For close quarters, a shotgun like weapon that shoots out a bolo net. The net goes through you like a cheese cuber, and the you are a pile of ingredients for a chunky Denver Omlette.

Fireworker Here's a weapon that shoots like an RPG. But as the projectile gets close, it lassos your leg and then jerks you up ragdoll style as if you were a mortar. It reaches apogee and boom, you're a red flower.

Spastic Balloon Just like the Fireworker except it drags you all random all over the sky or ground like, you know, a spastic balloon.

Harpoon Yeah we've seen this before in Cel Damage, but there's nothing quite so satisfying as seeing an impaled body fly into the nearest wall. Sick, no? Yes.

Taster's Choice Oooh. Here's a weapon the instantly freeze-dries all the water in your body. Boom, you're Lot's Wife. A pillar of salt.

F5 Who wouldn't want to have a tornado in a can? I think it would make for a really cool grenade. Not quite so deadly, but it can throw you 30 feet. Then again, that depends on where you land doesn't it?

Mortification There's something classic about how the Ark of the Covenant made skeletons out of the Nazi's in that first Indiana Jones movie. Any animation that rots out a body down to the bones has got to be cool.

Comments

Die Another Way

I've been thinking about the different ways to die in a Bungie shooter or any video game, and I think that the most satisfying kills are those that uniquely humiliate the target. So far they have been the assasinations in Gears and in Halo. But there has always been something special about Halo's deadly purple needler explosions that are utterly unique in gaming. So I'm wondering.. If I had the skills of a Bungie progammer, what kind of super unique kills might I animate that haven't been seen in any other videogame?

Now interestingly, I have a set of ideas based in physics about how you destroy something. Sooner or later in life, you'll find an unopenable can or something stuck that you cannot open - and you think, how can it be with all the forces of physics that I can't get this open? So, yeah. I have a list that makes me think of extremes of temperature, air pressure, water pressure, torque, vibration, sound, sharpness, etc.

Liquifaction Being reduced to a crap stain on the ground, or a puddle of goo has got to be in the list. But we all just think of acid, and it's always green and hissy. Now what might just work here is an acid blob gun with a great animation. But what about an acid blob shotgun that shoots out two dozen baggies the size of gumballs? Each acid gumball sticks to you and then they all simultaneously pop and dissolve you in all those places.

Implosion How about a vacuum magazine for a sniper rifle? Instead of a bullet, it's a dart with a total vacuum. It hits your head, your head implodes like a stomped on soda can.

Filament Shredder For close quarters, a shotgun like weapon that shoots out a bolo net. The net goes through you like a cheese cuber, and the you are a pile of ingredients for a chunky Denver Omlette.

Fireworker Here's a weapon that shoots like an RPG. But as the projectile gets close, it lassos your leg and then jerks you up ragdoll style as if you were a mortar. It reaches apogee and boom, you're a red flower.

Spastic Balloon Just like the Fireworker except it drags you all random all over the sky or ground like, you know, a spastic balloon.

Harpoon Yeah we've seen this before in Cel Damage, but there's nothing quite so satisfying as seeing an impaled body fly into the nearest wall. Sick, no? Yes.

Taster's Choice Oooh. Here's a weapon the instantly freeze-dries all the water in your body. Boom, you're Lot's Wife. A pillar of salt.

F5 Who wouldn't want to have a tornado in a can? I think it would make for a really cool grenade. Not quite so deadly, but it can throw you 30 feet. Then again, that depends on where you land doesn't it?

Mortification There's something classic about how the Ark of the Covenant made skeletons out of the Nazi's in that first Indiana Jones movie. Any animation that rots out a body down to the bones has got to be cool.